Week 1: (Oct 31-Nov 4) – Your Year in Nonfiction : Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favourite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? (hosted by Katie)
My Year in Non-Fiction
This past year I have read and reviewed 24 non-fiction titles. I was thinking it was a bit of a slow non-fiction year until I pulled some numbers from previous NonFicNov posts: (2021 – 25) (2020 – 13) (2019 – 32) (2018 – 14) (2017 – 12) (2015 – 17) (2014 – 13)
Turns out that 2022 was right bang in the middle of an average year of non-fiction for me!
I’m still reading six non-fiction titles atm (a grief & loss memoir, a history book on Ukraine, art essays, another perimenopause book, a collection of Margaret Atwood’s essays and a literary companion). Two of them should be finished and reviewed by the end of the month (I hope!)
Memoir: 9
- Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs | Beth Ann Fennelly – a US based poet whose micro-memoirs inspired me to write some of my own.
- Otherland: A Journey with my Daughter | Maria Tumarkin – the story of a Ukrainian woman, now living in Australia, returning to her hometown twenty years later with her teenage daughter.
- No Document | Anwen Crawford – an Australian grief and loss journal wrapped up in revolution, refugees and rebellion
- H is for Hawk | Helen Macdonald – late to the party with this grief and loss memoir disguised as a nature book.
- Tell My Why: The Story of my life and my music | Archie Roach – Indigenous Australian singer/songwriter, who sadly died not long after my book group read his memoir.
- Bedtime Story | Chloe Hooper – an illness memoir that didn’t quite work for me (Australian).
- Summer Diary: The Herbogowan | Rumer Godden – a journey through the mountain regions of Pir Panjal (in the Lesser Himalayas) of Kashmir, possibly in the late 1950’s early 1960’s by Godden and some of her family.
- No. 91/92 A Parisian Bus Diary | Lauren Elkin – notes and observations composed by Elkin on her iPhone 5c from September 2014 to May 2015 as she was riding the bus to the university where she taught.
- Myself When Young | Henry Handel Richardson – HHR’s early memories of her Australian childhood and youth, followed by her time studying in Germany before marrying – carefully curated.
Biography: 5
- Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears | Bernadette Brennan – Gillian Mears may not have been an easy person to be around or to live with, but her story is incredible (Australian).
- To the Ends of the Earth: Mary Gaunt, pioneer, traveller, her biography | Susanna de Vries – a poorly put together bio about a fascinating Australian woman who travelled the world in the early 1900’s and lived to tell the tales!
- Friends & Rivals: Four Great Australian Writers | Brenda Niall – a disappointing look at four fascinating Australian women writers. A bio that never quite lived up to it’s potential.
- Eve Langley and the Pea Pickers | Helen Vines – an utterly absorbing and penetrating look into the life and work of Eve Langley (Australian).
- The Countess from Kirribilli: | Joyce Morgan – it doesn’t matter whether Elizabeth von Armin is Australian or not, Morgan’s biography was fascinating from start to finish.
Essays: 3
- Orwell’s Roses | Rebecca Solnit – a book that made me want to read more of Orwell’s essays.
- Let Me Tell You What I Mean | Joan Didion – interesting, though very American-centric. I think I missed a lot of the cultural references. I preferred the essays that included the personal along with the cultural observations.
- Incantations | Subhash Jaireth – A personal and thoughtful walk through some of the portarits at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra
Photo Essay: 1
- In Cars: On Diana | Leanne Shapton – provocative and evocative
History: 5
- A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | Barbara Tuchman – mismatched expectations. I wanted to read a book about the Black Plague, but it was more about some guy called, Enguerrand de Coucy and his role in The Hundred Years’ War.
- Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future | Svetlana Alexievich – one of the best oral history books I’ve read. Heart-breaking, traumatic, full of loss and grief and despair. Shows what happens to individuals when historic events happen around them.
- A Shortest History of the Soviet Union | Sheila Fitzpatrick – This is a bite-sized taste of Soviet history by an Australian historian. It’s fascinating, enlightening and bursting with tangents, or jumping off point, that I would love to go off and explore when I have more time.
- October: The Story of the Russian Revolution | China Miéville – Surprisingly dull, considering the fascinating topic it had to work with.
- A Short History of Russia: From the Pagans to Putin | Mark Galeotti – excellent narrative non-fiction that manages to sum up Russian history in eight chapters! The Further Reading notes at the back were a highlight.
Medical/Health: 1
- Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing | Cassandra Szoeke – an Australian study of Australian women that began in 1990. This book tells us what they have learnt so far.
My Favourite Non-Fiction Reads
- Eve and The Pea Pickers
- Leaping into Waterfalls
- Chernobyl Prayer
But the non-fiction book I’ve recommended the most this year is A Short History of Russia: From the Pagans to Putin. I popped it onto our STAFF FAVOURITES shelf at work. Every Monday I have to reorder it after almost selling out each weekend. I haven’t sold a non-fiction book at work like this since Square Haunting by Francesca Wade.
My 2022 Non-Fiction Topics
In some ways there were no surprises here.
I have always loved a good bio/memoir, and I’ve been an amateur history buff all my life. The war in Ukraine has reignited my fascination with Russian history. I have now widened the net, though, to include specific books about Ukraine, while the issues of grief and loss dominate my choice of memoirs.
I was pleased to see how many of my non-fiction reads were by Australian authors.
But I was disappointed to see no science/environment books in the mix this year. H is for Hawk was as close as I got, but really, even that was all about the grief and loss.
My Non-Fiction Hopes
- To find some new nature/environment books to spark my interest (I’ve just added Annie Proulx’s Fen Bog & Swamp to my TBR after reading this) to give you an idea of what I lean towards.
- Book recommendations about the history of Russia and Ukraine (new to the pile is Russia: Myths and Legends by Rodric Braithwaite). Also happy for fiction recommendations around this topic.
- More oral history books à la Svetlana Alexievich.
- Your favourite recommendations for grief and loss memoirs.
Happy Non-Fiction in November!
| This post was written on the traditional land of the Wangal clan, one of the 29 clans of the Eora Nation within the Sydney basin. This Reading Life acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are this land’s first storytellers. |
bronasbooks.com 
Impressive, Bronwen, I salute you for achieving all this – and what a range, from biography to memoir, health to history and more! I seem to have limited my nonfiction to reading the news and just two titles this year, one consisting essays on the Mabinogion and the other about stage designs from the Italian Renaissance to the later 17th century. Just write “Must do better” on my report card..m
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Thanks Chris.
I’ve been meaning to read the Mabinogion for many years now, so curious about the essays. With my Welsh ancestry I really should get onto it!!
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You’ve done well for all the concern about not reading much. My reading was narrower this year … and very little science but it’s been good all the same.
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Yes I was pleased when I tallied up the books, how many there actually were. I still think about the Gillian Mears & Eve Langley bios.
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That’s great when that happens with books.
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Completely irrelevant but apropos of Eve Langley, I’ve stumbled on a copy of White Topee (1954)! It’s a sequel to The Pea Pickers.
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Squeals with delight!!
Lucky you Lisa, I check every secondhand bookshop I stumble across just in case. Which edition did you find?
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It’s the 1989 Sirius edition with an Intro by L thwaite and I will post it to you when I’ve read it.
Your part in this arrangement is to remind me when you read my (eventual) review!
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You’ve read a lot of nonfiction this year! I think I read Square Haunting because you recommended it during last Nonfiction November and I loved it, so thank you for that.
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Ohhhh that makes me happy Lou! So glad you enjoyed Square Haunnting too.
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Leaping into Waterfalls ….this is going to be one of my selections for o “week 5 post, New to My TBR”. Australian authors for NF are hidden gems to many readers who concentrate on UK, USA reading lists! One on my favourite science/environment books was by Australian science writer/journalist Jo Chandler. Her book “Feeling the Heat” is an excellent NF reading choice.
I haven’t divided my NF list in genres….but will do that today. Curious on what my reading was concentrated on.
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Both Leaping and the Eve Langley bio’s went into such fascinating detail about the writer’s lives as well as discussing what was going on in their lives as they were writing. I love finding out the inspirations and influences that make their way into stories.
I’ll pop by to see what you discovered about genres… 🙂
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An excellent list with some interesting topics. I hope you get a nice lot out of the Month. Watch out for tomorrow when I cover AusReading Month, NonFicNov AND Novellas in November …
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I thought about combining all the posts, but have simply decided to post a lot more posts this week than I usually do – Novellas tomorrow 🙂
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I’ve done all three in ONE BOOK!! I’m ridiculously pleased with myself. I don’t need to read or review anything for the rest of the month now!
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😂
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wow, fabulous list!
I have read Tuchman’s, and H is For Hawk. I actually even preferred her next book, a collection of essays: Vespers Flights.
I am currently reading another book by Solnit: Wanderlust.
I have a book on Russian history in my list: https://wordsandpeace.com/2022/11/02/nonfiction-november-my-year-2022-in-nonfiction/
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It was Vesper Flights and my utter enjoyment of every essay that finally convinced me to pick up Hawk, and yes I preferred the essays too.
I’d be keen to try another Solnit, wasn’t 100% convinced that her style suited me, but Wanderlust is somewhere on my TBR too….
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I have only read Chernobyl Prayer (my edition was called Voices from Chernobyl) but some of the other books sound very interesting.
My Non-fiction November Week 1.
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Impressive reading within different genres. I have read a lot about Russian history which is a fascinating topic. I mostly hang on to history, but will try to venture outside my comfort zone with some other subjects.
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An interesting range of nonfiction, thanks for sharing your recommendations
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I’ve not yet read Chernobyl Prayer, but I’ve loved several of Alexievich’s other books, so I really should get to the rest! I’ve also been enjoying essay collections lately, so I appreciate you sharing the ones you’ve read this year 🙂
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I certainly want to read more of Alexievich’s work now that I’ve read one – her approach to oral history is unique.
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I’ve added Short History of Russia to my TBR as well as the diary written on the bus in Paris. I read an amazing book by Svetlana Alexievich a long time ago called Voices from Chernobyl; I am guessing that this is the same book, with a different title.
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That’s correct – it was the original title. The book was revised in 2013 by Alexievich then a new translation came out in 2016 based on this.
Hope you enjoy short history of Russia as much as I did.
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I have no overlap with your beautiful nonfiction reading this year and I find myself wanting to read many of the books on your list. I have added Secrets of Women’s Healthy Aging to my list. American medicine is ridiculous in this regard – once you stop / indicate that you won’t be having children they ignore you. I love the idea of reading something that has been going on for this long. Enjoy NFN!
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